The Latest Features
Arendal Sound 1528 Tower 8 Loudspeaker: Why I’m Going 3500 Miles to Learn How it Happened
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 November 2024 01 November 2024
Company visits
The SoundStage! Network began in 1995. By 1998, traveling to visit hi-fi companies had become a regular occurrence for me. At first, I toured companies close to my home in Ottawa, Canada—those located in the Toronto and Montreal metropolitan areas, mostly. By 2000, I was traveling to companies in the United States and Europe as well.
Wooed by Wood—The Sonus Faber Sonetto V G2
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: System One System One
- Created: 01 November 2024 01 November 2024
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council can be found through this link.
If you’ve been following this column, you might know I’ve recently developed a preference for white speakers in my living room. It started with the striking Estelon Auras, which I reviewed a year ago, and continued with the sleek Totem Bison Twin Towers, featured in August. So when my review pair of Sonus Faber Sonetto V G2s arrived and I found out they had the dark-color wenge wood veneer, I was somewhat disappointed. Not for long, though. Once set up, they looked so good that they may have cured my fixation on white speakers.
Orchard Audio PecanPi+ Streamer Premium DAC
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- Written by Matt Bonaccio Matt Bonaccio
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 October 2024 15 October 2024
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
“Simplify, then add lightness,” British inventor and Lotus founder Colin Chapman once said. New Jersey-based Orchard Audio may not have attained the renown for iconic designs that Lotus has nor quite the status of an exemplar of American hi-fi as Naim or Harbeth have of British hi-fi. But it does seem to have followed Chapman’s paradigm, handcrafting relatively small, light components with a clear focus on simplicity and performance, eschewing nonessential connections and features. The PecanPi+ Streamer Premium, which retails for $1500 (prices in USD), is a prime example of this paradigm. You won’t find advanced functionality on this streamer, the sort of features found on “full-service streamers,” but you will find that the functions it offers, it executes extremely well.
Recommended Reference Component: Simaudio Moon 891 Streaming Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 October 2024 15 October 2024
In May 2023, Simaudio released its Moon North Collection, comprising the 641 integrated amplifier, 681 streaming digital-to-analog converter (DAC), 761 and 861 power amplifiers, and 791 and 891 streaming preamplifiers. In December 2023, Doug Schneider reviewed the 791 on this site, highlighting the preamp’s DAC, streaming functionality, and MM/MC phono stage, and concluded that it should “appeal to the discerning audiophile who wants an uncompromised preamplifier that could easily handle today’s playback needs and those in years to come.”
September Speaker Week in Denmark—DALI, Treble Clef Audio, and Radiant Acoustics
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 October 2024 01 October 2024
Denmark—a hi-fi-dense country
For a country one-fifth the size of the UK and a population just shy of six million, Denmark has an astonishing number of hi-fi companies and brands: Bang & Olufsen, Buchardt Audio, DALI, Dynaudio, Gato Audio, Gryphon Audio Designs, Lyngdorf Audio, Ortofon, Raidho Acoustics, Steinway Lyngdorf, System Audio, Vitus Audio, and others. I’d bet Denmark has the highest number of hi-fi companies per capita of any country in the world.
Bryston Model T10 Loudspeaker
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- Written by Philip Beaudette Philip Beaudette
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 October 2024 01 October 2024
Canadian hi-fi stalwart Bryston doesn’t sit still. Known for decades as a manufacturer of robust analog amplification, they got into digital audio approximately 20 years ago, eventually offering a full suite of digital front-end gear. Soon they had launched their first loudspeaker, the Model T, which Aron Garrecht reviewed for SoundStage! Hi-Fi in 2013. Within three years, Bryston had added a turntable to their catalog (sourced from Italy’s Gold Note, and since withdrawn) to complement their upgraded phono stages. Presently, they’re on the cusp of introducing a line of digital amplifiers.
Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G Loudspeaker
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- Written by George de Sa George de Sa
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 15 September 2024 15 September 2024
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada's National Research Council can be found through this link.
From modest beginnings in 1972, loudspeaker manufacturer Monitor Audio, founded in Teversham, England, by Mo Iqbal, has grown immensely in size and technical expertise. In 2023, on the heels of the company’s 50th anniversary, Monitor Audio launched a no-holds-barred, ultra-high-end loudspeaker, the Hyphn, describing it as “the most creatively ambitious, technically advanced, and powerful loudspeaker in the company’s history.” Of course, loudspeakers like the Hyphn are unattainable for most and are not expected to be runaway commercial successes. But they do showcase the technological capability of a brand, and the technology incorporated in them tends to percolate down in time to the brand’s more mainstream offerings.
Recommended Reference Component: NAD Masters M66 Streaming Preamplifier
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- Written by SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors SoundStage! Hi-Fi Editors
- Category: Components Components
- Created: 15 September 2024 15 September 2024
Last month, Roger Kanno’s review of the NAD Masters M66 streaming preamplifier appeared on this site. In his review, Roger notes that the M66 was meant to be a companion to the Masters 23 stereo/mono amplifier, which he reviewed in March of last year, pointing out that it complements the M23 in both aesthetics and performance. The M66 and M23 are respectively priced at $5499 and $3749 (all prices in USD).
Still Think Computer-Based Audio is Tough to Set Up? Try a Turntable!
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Category: Monthly Column Monthly Column
- Created: 01 September 2024 01 September 2024
The vinyl long-play (LP) record has been around for a while. It debuted in mono form in 1948 and was adapted for stereo in 1957, but it hasn’t changed since; only the music has. By contrast, rapid technological advancement is a defining characteristic of digital music.
NAD Masters M66 Streaming Preamplifier
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- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Category: Full-Length Equipment Reviews Full-Length Equipment Reviews
- Created: 01 September 2024 01 September 2024
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
Since its inception in 2005, the NAD Masters Series range has been populated with the company’s finest audio components at relatively reasonable prices. The latest amplifiers in the series all utilize Purifi Audio’s Eigentakt technology and are widely considered some of the best performing amps for the price. The new Masters M66 streaming preamplifier is designed to complement NAD’s top-of-the-line stereo power amplifier, the M23, in both aesthetics and performance. It offers a scope of features rarely seen in this type of component at any price.
